Tag: Les Misérables

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week’s topic is ‘ Longest Books You’ve Read’

A little while ago I was challenged to do the book challenge on Facebook. After multiple comments on that particular status, a great idea was born. Me and my dear friend Bauhinia are starting ABT5 Blog Meme. The ABT5 comes from our names: Anastasia & Bauhinia and TOP5.

Every third Sunday we will be creating new TOP5 topic for you to blog about. More information can be found in MORE… section on Read & Survive blog.

First challenge is to list TOP5 books of this moment. Choose the books that have stayed with you in some way and short descriptions on why chose those five. Don’t take more than a few minutes and don’t think too hard :)

Mine are:

1.A Million Little Pieces by James FreyEveryone goes through hardships in their lives and in my opinion A Million Little Pieces tells you that you can change and that you can endure anything if you want to. Writing style in Million Little Pieces is also so raw that I think it reaches anyone.

2.Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
I read Les Mis when I was on my second year of high-school. I had just finished reading ‘Notre-Dame de Paris’ and I was stunned. Shocked of what had happened to all my favorite characters. And all because of ‘fate’. Anyways, I immediately wanted to read every single book Hugo had ever written. Les Mis was a beautiful experience, Hugo describes talentedly human mind, that we are not evil but we do bad things to each other despite that. And he makes you understand why. And he does not say that poor and pitiful people aren’t worth in stead he writes a book about miserable lives. Also unlike so many classics, I think this book has an happy ending.

3.His Dark Materials by Philip PullmanI was about 10 or younger when I first discovered His Dark Materials. I started reading the trilogy from second part and Will instantly became my first crush (fictional) crush ever. HDM was full of heroic characters (and one seriously annoying girl). I have not stopped wanting my own daemon either yet.

4. Paulo Coelho’s books (this is not cheating in listing author in stead of the book…)
There are few books of Coelho that I didn’t especially like but rest of them I love. Coelho makes us believe we can achieve anything we want and that ‘happily ever afters’ are possible. His books often have twists and turns that I don’t expect which is rare nowadays in my case.

5. Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Well I wouldn’t have been the same without this…

“I am looking for friends. What does that mean — tame?”
“It is an act too often neglected,” said the fox. “It means to establish ties.”
“To establish ties?”
“Just that,” said the fox. “To me, you are still nothing more than a little boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you I am nothing more than a fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world….”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo is probably the few books that have so many adaptations. Personally, I think it is the best books ever to be written. Why? Just because.

Because. It has amazing set of characters. I think they are all very human, none of them are perfect. We always fall for the “good bad Robin Hood like guys” and Les Mis has Jean Valjean. Ex-convict who has just been released after 19 years of imprisonment in the galleys, five years for stealing bread for his starving sister and her children and fourteen more for trying to escape. Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? After his release, he can’t get a place to stay because of his yellow passport that marks him as criminal. I like how Valjean constantly pulls out Houdini like tricks in the book.

Then there’s Javert. The bad cop. Who’s just really doing his job. Fantine (now I have Anne Hathaway picture of her in my head), Parisian grisette, who falls in love, finds out that she is pregnant, is left alone to take care of her illegitimate child and who eventually becomes prostitute. Cosette. Fantine’s daughter, the Cinderella story of Les Misérables, the Lark who becomes the princess like creature. And dear Eponiné. The girl in the shadows of Cosette. I really liked her. She fell for guy who already was in love with another girl but still sacrificed all. It is full of people and happenings. Full set of miserable characters who are, in so many ways like all of us.

“Promise to give me a kiss on my brow when I am dead. I shall feel it.”She dropped her head again on Marius’ knees, and her eyelids closed. He thought the poor soul had departed. Éponine remained motionless. All at once, at the very moment when Marius fancied her asleep forever, she slowly opened her eyes in which appeared the sombre profundity of death, and said to him in a tone whose sweetness seemed already to proceed from another world:“And by the way, Monsieur Marius, I believe that I was a little bit in love with you.”

It has most beautiful plot and language. I also liked how emotional the book it was, this one made me laugh and cry. Or both at same time. Truly beautiful.

I love the themes in the book. There’s lot of love and compassion in the book and I think there’s a lot on what does it mean to be human. I like how Hugo had lots of criticism towards French society, social injustice and politics during the 19th century. For example, Valjean stole piece of bread and attempted to escape from galleys few times…and that made him Most Wanted man in France? There was Patron-Minette…and nobody was after them?

Les Misérables has my heart so definitely 10/10.

Your Guide On How-To Read Les Misérables1. You can read it for free! Yay! For example on Project Gutenberg. Find the one with as many pages as possible. Also, if you have seen the movies and theater adaptations…definitely read the book! It has SO much more! And the other way around ;)2. Warning: it is huge but has lot to give.3. Victor Hugo loves you as reader. He talks to you all the time, imagine this and imagine that. It’s really nice. Kind of like someone would read it to you. Once, he does even apologize if something is not accurate.4. Hugo has put a lot of effort in describing things. Very wordy book. He describes Paris, Battle of Waterloo (many many pages in the beginning of the book), sewers of the Paris and slang among other. He seems to have a lot to say about everything.5. If you want to have inspiration to read about France’s history, you can as well start from Les Misérables.6. You should have a soundtrack of the Les Misérables prepared on your iPod :p

“It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables